In a classic example of online rivalries going too far, a Philadelphia man has pleaded guilty to swatting a fellow member of his fantasy football group chat twice. In both cases, the man falsely reported imminent threats involving a University of Iowa student in the hopes of getting his rival arrested.
Ars Technica reports that according to court documents, 25-year-old Matthew Gabriel of Philadelphia became embroiled in a dispute with a University of Iowa student who was part of the same fantasy football chat group. The nature of the feud remains unclear, but Gabriel’s response was to target his rival with swatting attacks. Swatting, named after the goal of having a SWAT team respond to the target’s house, involves making false reports to law enforcement usually involving an immediate threat.
In August 2023, while the student was studying abroad in Norway, Gabriel submitted a tip to Norwegian investigators through an online form. In the message, he falsely claimed that the student was planning a mass shooting in Oslo, writing in part, “On August 15th a man named [student’s name] is headed around oslo and has a shooting planned with multiple people on his side involved. they plan to take as many as they can at a concert and then head to a department store.”
The hoax tip resulted in a significant response from law enforcement in both Norway and the United States, with authorities spending “hundreds of man-hours” investigating the baseless threat, according to the U.S. government. When questioned by the FBI, Gabriel admitted that the accusation was entirely fabricated.
However, Gabriel’s pattern of false threats did not end there. In March 2024, while the government was preparing to prosecute him for the Norway incident, Gabriel sent an email to administrators at the University of Iowa, claiming that the same student had threatened to “blow up the school.” The email included a screenshot from the group chat, which Gabriel presented as evidence of the threat. In reality, the message in the screenshot was a joke made in response to the previous false accusation, and Gabriel was aware of this context.
Charged with two counts of “interstate and foreign communication of a threat to injure,” Gabriel pleaded guilty to both actions this week at the federal courthouse in Philadelphia. He is scheduled to be sentenced in January and could have faced up to five years in prison. However, local media report that he reached an agreement with federal prosecutors, who will recommend 15 months of house arrest instead.
Gabriel’s lawyer, commenting on the case, emphasized the severity of his client’s actions and the fortunate outcome, stating, “This guy is fortunate as hell to get house arrest” and “I don’t know what he was thinking. It was definitely not smart.” U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero also weighed in, offering advice to those who might be tempted to engage in similar behavior online: “My advice to keyboard warriors who’d like to avoid federal charges: always think of the potential consequences before you hit ‘post’ or ‘send.’”
Read more at Ars Technica here.